This draw was greeted like a victory by a raucous Stadium of Light crowd, who would like to see the same intensity - and more of the ball - against lesser opponents.

Chelsea entertain Spurs and return to the north-east to face Newcastle in the next six days. During that time, this match will be studied, and elements of Sunderland’s defensive set-up copied.

Centre-halves Wes Brown and John O’Shea were excellent - snappy and physical against Costa. The full-backs tucked in next to them and squeezed space. Widemen such as Connor Wickham dropped back and blocked for their lives.

In the midfield scrap, Lee ­Cattermole and Seb Larsson chased, tackled and protected the defence.

When Chelsea attacks broke down, Adam Johnson, Steven Fletcher and Wickham offered their colleagues a quick, easy -release ball and sped upfield to earn their team a breather, if not a goal.

Can Spurs do the same on Wednesday and further upset Mourinho?

We know Newcastle have been masters of similar tactics when required.

Maybe there is a small chink of light for Chelsea's biggest title rivals, Manchester City.

Brown had some advice for future opponents of Mourinho's men: “We just made sure we didn’t give them much space to play into. I think it’s a bit of everything – organisation, physicality, shutting space down.

“We’re playing against some of the best in the world, and you know what you’re going to get with Costa, Fabregas, Hazard or Oscar.

“But it’s also about who wants it more. It’s not just skill and technical ability. You could see how much we wanted it and that made a difference. Lee Cattermole got us going with the first couple of tackles.”

The plan certainly frustrated Costa, who appeared to kick out at O’Shea in the first half and was later booked for catching Brown with his arm.

He is now suspended against Tottenham after collecting his fifth yellow card.

Brown was charitable when asked if the Spain international should have been sent off: “It didn’t look like it was on purpose, it was more of his follow through. I’m pretty much used to that, so it doesn’t bother me a bit.”

For the Black Cats the ­challenge is to play with the same intensity every game, and get more possession. “Being difficult to play against is just the first step,” conceded Poyet.

Chelsea will have to work out how to overcome 10 men lined up on the edge of the box.

Nemanja Matic said: “They were compact – on the 18-yard line with 10 players. We didn’t find the space, but in the next game this can’t happen – we have to score.

“Of course now every team is going to defend. We know that and are ready for that. We will find a space to score.”

Mourinho insisted he was not out-foxed by Sunderland’s strategy. He said: “The reality is they defended well. My full-backs were not defending their wingers, their wingers were defending our full-backs. This says absolutely ­everything. But it’s not a criticism. It’s their strategy and I respect what they did.

“I don’t think they overcame our strategy as we were very ­comfortable but couldn’t score.”

Poyet said: “Leave too much space and they will punish you. It’s about shape, defending, caring, discipline. We worked on it and the players were exceptional.”